Insulated jumper in particular for terminal blocks of switchboards

ABSTRACT

Electrical connection jumper, in particular for terminal blocks of switchboards, comprising a conducting body extending in the longitudinal direction and a plurality of connector elements for electrical connection, which extend in the transverse direction from said conducting body, and an insulating body, integral with said conducting body, said insulating body comprising a longitudinally extending gripping part and pairs of lugs which extend therefrom in a substantially transverse direction and are able to contain partially said conducting body.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an insulated jumper in particular forterminal blocks of switchboards and the like.

2. Description of the Prior Art

It is known in the technical sector relating to terminal blocks forswitchboards that there exists the need to connect together twoterminals arranged alongside each other on the board in order to formthe required electric circuit.

Jumpers made of conductive material and designed for this purpose arealso known; said jumpers are formed by a conductive metal stripextending in a substantially longitudinal direction having, extendingfrom it in a direction perpendicular to the above direction, flat pinsformed in the manner of two resilient jaws able to form the part forengagement in the seat of the terminal block.

These known jumpers, although fulfilling their purpose, since they canbe easily cut in the transverse direction in order to determine correctmeasurement in the longitudinal direction, have the drawback, however,that they cannot be electrically insulated with respect to the exterior,in particular at the time of use by a user; this results in a high riskof contact with the user him/herself and/or with foreign bodies andtherefore injury both for the former, who may suffer an electric shock,and damage for the system which is short-circuited.

In order to solve the problem of insulation, jumpers are also knownwhere the conductive strip is embedded in an insulating body; in thiscase also, however, there is the risk of drawbacks arising from the factthat cutting to size of the jumper is difficult owing to the double anddifferent superimposed material, which requires complicated cuttingoperations using different tools respectively adapted to the type andthickness of material to be cut, making cutting practically impossible.

SUMMARY

The technical problem which is posed, therefore, is to provideelectrical connection jumpers, in particular for terminals ofswitchboards, which are able to be cut to size and ensure perfectinsulation of the visible conducting parts so as to prevent them fromcoming into contact with the user and/or with foreign bodies, causingshort-circuits of the system.

In connection with this problem it is also required that this jumpershould have small dimensions, be easy and inexpensive to produce andassemble and be able to be adapted easily at any user location usingcutting means which are easy and inexpensive to provide.

These results are obtained according to the present invention by anelectrical connection jumper, in particular for terminal blocks ofswitchboards and the like, comprising a conducting body extending in thelongitudinal direction, a plurality of connector elements extending inthe transverse direction from said conducting body, and an insulatingbody, integral with said conducting body, said insulating bodycomprising a longitudinally extending gripping part and pairs ofoppositely arranged lugs which extend therefrom and are able to containpartially said connector elements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Further details may be obtained from the following description of anon-limiting example of embodiment of the subject of the presentinvention provided with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a jumper according to the presentinvention, in its entirety;

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the jumper according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic cross-section along the plane indicated byIII-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic cross-section along the plane indicated byIV-IV in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 shows a schematic cross-section along the plane indicated by V-Vin FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and assuming solely for the sake ofconvenience of the description and without a restrictive meaning, a setof three reference axes with a longitudinal direction X-X, transversedirection Y-Y and vertical direction Z-Z, respectively, the jumper forterminal blocks of switchboards according to the present inventioncomprises essentially: a conducting body 10 extending in thelongitudinal direction X-X in the form of a thin strip 11 which hassuitable dimensions for the electric load envisaged, and a plurality ofconnector elements 12 which extend in the transverse direction Y-Y fromsaid strip 11 and are formed by a neck 12a which is extended by one ormore (two in the example of the figure) flat pins 13 for connection tothe terminal (not shown).

The conducting body 10 is integrally joined to an insulating body 20comprising a substantially continuous, longitudinally extending grippingpart 21 which, in the example shown in the figure, has a circularcross-section with, extending from it, pairs of lugs 22 symmetricallyarranged opposite each in the transverse direction Y-Y and aligned witheach other in the longitudinal direction at a constant interval.

The lugs 22 of each pair are suitably spaced from each other in thetransverse direction Y-Y so as to form a respective seat 22a in thevertical direction, such as not to penetrate into the gripping part 21of the longitudinally extending insulating body 20.

As shown in FIG. 3, said lugs 22 have pins 22b extending in thetransverse direction Y-Y and suitable for engagement with acorresponding seat 14 open in the transverse direction in the neck 12aof the conducting part 10.

In this way the connection between conducting body 10 and insulatingbody 20 ensures that the gripping part 21 of the said insulating body isfree of electrical conduction.

Advantageously this connection is obtained by overmoulding the insulatoronto the conducting body.

It can also be seen how, at the opposite ends, the insulating bodyalways projects in the longitudinal direction X-X beyond the conductingbody, thus ensuring insulation of the jumper with respect to the user.

This configuration provides numerous advantages compared to the priorart since, when the jumper is cut to size, it will be possible to cutseparately the insulating material and the conducting strip, thusensuring the ease of cutting using conventional tools.

In addition to this, cutting may be performed both in a position T1predisposed for cutting (FIG. 4) by means of an annular undercut 25 ofthe gripping part and in a position T2 which is not predisposed forcutting (FIG. 5), while keeping, however, the gripping part totallyinsulated.

Said predisposed cutting zone T1 or non-predisposed cutting zone T2 issituated between two pairs of lugs 22 which are adjacent in thelongitudinal direction, and the vertical cutting plane of the conductingpart is inset in the longitudinal direction with respect to the cuttingplane of the insulating body; correspondingly cutting of the conductingbody 10 produces zones 15 where the conductor is inset in thelongitudinal direction with respect to the cutting zone T1/T2 of thegripping part 21; in this way, since it is possible to obtain a freeconducting edge which is set back from the insulating body, the risks ofcontact with the conducting part are reduced considerably.

Although illustrated and described in relation to a strip extendinglongitudinally as appropriate and to be cut, subsequently, to size, itis envisaged also that the jumper may be designed in modular form with asingle connection body, with two or more bodies, or with a non-uniformsuccession of cutting zones determined by the alternating arrangement ofjumpers with one, two or three, etc. connections.

Although not shown, it is envisaged moreover that the electricalconnection part 13 may be formed with a screw element and/or clampelement as required and/or appropriate.

It can therefore be seen how with the electrical connection jumper forswitchboard terminal blocks according to the present invention it ispossible to achieve easily the production and/or cutting to size of thejumper and at the same time insulation of the gripping part which nolonger contains the conducting part.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An electrical connection jumper for terminal blocks of switchboards, comprising a conducting body extending in a longitudinal direction and a plurality of connector elements for electrical connection, which extend in a transverse direction from said conducting body, and an insulating body, integral with said conducting body, wherein said insulating body comprises a longitudinally extending gripping part and pairs of lugs which extend there from in a substantially transverse direction and partially contain said conducting body, wherein the pairs of lugs are spaced from each other in the transverse direction so as to form a respective seat for the conducting body.
 2. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein said gripping part of the insulating body is continuous.
 3. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein said lugs are arranged symmetrically opposite each other in the transverse direction.
 4. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein a depth in the vertical direction of said seat formed by the lugs is such as not to penetrate into the gripping part of the insulating body extending longitudinally.
 5. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein the conducting body includes at least one neck and at least one connection element extending from each neck.
 6. The jumper according to claim 5, wherein said lugs have at least one pin extending in a transverse direction and engaging a seat which is open in the transverse direction in the neck of the conducting body.
 7. The jumper according to claim 6, wherein said connection element comprises one or more flat pins which extend in the transverse direction from said neck for connection to a switchboard terminal.
 8. The jumper according to claim 6, wherein said connection element comprises screw means which extend in the transverse direction from said neck for connection to a switchboard terminal.
 9. The jumper according to claim 6, wherein the lugs are partially overmoulded onto the neck of the conducting body.
 10. The jumper according to claim 6, wherein the neck is formed as a strip of suitable length in the longitudinal direction.
 11. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein the insulating body is overmoulded onto the conducting body.
 12. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein said gripping part of the insulating body has at least one annular undercut that defines a cutting zone of the gripping part that is predisposed for transverse cutting.
 13. The jumper according to claim 12, wherein said cutting zone is situated between two pairs of lugs adjacent in the longitudinal direction.
 14. The jumper according to claim 12, wherein a vertical cutting plane of the conducting body is aligned in the longitudinal direction with respect to the cutting zone of the gripping part.
 15. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein said pairs of lugs symmetrically arranged opposite each other in the transverse direction are spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction at a constant interval.
 16. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein the opposite ends of the insulating body project in the longitudinal direction with respect to the conducting body. 